This post is about the "Absecon Skate Park". I never knew or even heard about this place. People that I went to school with supposedly built it. I was told they would grab any wood they could find and drag out to an abandon tennis court in the woods. Steve took me back there and I took some pictures of the area.
The area used to be a community pool or a private club for the Absecon Shores, Im not positive. I asked my mom for some info about it and she said in the 60s it was popular. She said she never went but a lot of her friends worked there. When the bay was at high tide they would open a gate using this lever to allow water into the pool area. When the pool was filled, they would close the gate.
I kicked some dirt away and found this depth warning.
I guess this was the area everyone would lay out, eat lunch, whatever.
here are some rotting stairs along the side
We walked to the back through all these weeds and trees and found this rusted fence. We walked around till we found an entrance and walked in.
some of the ramps were still up. It was pretty awesome... If anyone has any stories about this place please post them. Im very interested in learning more about it. All the years living in Absecon, this was the first time I ever went there and checked it out.
13 comments:
pretty sure the skatepark was started and broken up by the cops in 1995..everybody started skating in 1994
Went there once with Matt Doherty, Chris Fry and Jesse Parker in like 6th grade. I totally shredded up the spectator area on my Alien Workshop.
Lads, lads, this was a skateable spot in the late 80's. It was then the first ramps were made and people were skating it. I rode there then, and launch ramps were all the rage.
1adam12 any pictures or stories?
sometime around 1995 that place was out of control. we would go out there and there would be skaters from everywhere skating like maniacs - heads from near phila and skaters from the old failure skateshop like ian fawthrop and ruben ducheyne and of course a lot of locals like dale woods, greg d, jose ruiz, clay emerson, ralph girard, andy cherico and lots more i'm forgetting. dan gardener from margate split his head open at one point over there, had to go to the hospital and to be honest that was the last thing i remember about that spot.
those ramps are from like 2 or 3 years ago. one quarter is justin leitners and goggles built the spine with one other dude from stockton bringing other ramps too. think its just abandoned again.
those ramps are from like 2 or 3 years ago. one quarter is justin leitners and goggles built the spine with one other dude from stockton bringing other ramps too. think its just abandoned again.
Im clueless about it, thank you for the update
This web post is so cool. It has been years since I thought about this place. Chris Loeb lived very close to this location. Through the woods and through the fence and you were there. We both built this park in 1988 and 1989. Yes it was an abandoned swim club. And yes we built ramps from any donated wood we could find. It was a bunch of fun. Launch ramps. Quarter pipe ramps. 2 quarters with a 2 ft gap. Wall ramps. David Yugovich
This web post is so cool. It has been years since I thought about this place. Chris Loeb lived very close to this location. Through the woods and through the fence and you were there. We both built this park in 1988 and 1989. Yes it was an abandoned swim club. And yes we built ramps from any donated wood we could find. It was a bunch of fun. Launch ramps. Quarter pipe ramps. 2 quarters with a 2 ft gap. Wall ramps. David Yugovich
David, thank you for posting your history with the location and the information about people, ramps and timelines, seriously appreciated.
Just stumbled upon this post as I tried to relive the glory days online. I used to skate this spot every weekend in the late 80's. It was destroyed and rebuilt...there were rumors that a bunch of jocks were partying in there and wrecked it. But it got rebuilt and lived on for a while. Not sure when that scene officially died and it went to hell though. For sure it was at it's best in the late 80's.
If you look at the google map, you will see a gas station with a parking lot behind it. This was the usual way in. You parked behind the gas station, then trecked through the marsh and across a concrete bridge to get to it.
You are correct about the pool and rec center. In the late 80s it was still in decent shape, but closed.
Used to skate with a ton of people there: Clay, Greg, Phil, Eric, Danny McIntire (RIP). Those were the days. Thanks for posting this!
I've been driving past this spot for work for the past 20 years. It's hard to go by and not think about the park. I got to see this spot one time back in the late 80's. I was friends with an older skater who took me there. I was young and totally intimidated. I could be blowing this out of proportion but I remember there being a dozen or so ramps. There was a spot with two quarters put together that dudes were riding like a minipipe. There were a ton of people. To me it seemed like there was over a 100 people there. Mostly skaters but of course there were a ton of girls there watching. I was young so some of my memory could have been influenced by me being so in awe of what was hidden right there in my hood and I never new about it. A few weeks after I saw it I heard it was destroyed. The first rumor was that it was jocks from Holy Spirit. Later on a rumor was floating around that it was actually the dudes who built it and they were tired of not being able to skate there own spot. Regardless of what happened it was a sick spot and I was lucky to get to see it before it was lost.
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